CASP7 (caspase 7) is a cysteine protease that plays critical roles in apoptosis and innate immune regulation. As an executioner caspase, CASP7 cleaves key cellular substrates including PARP1, generating an 89-kDa fragment that serves as a cytoplasmic PAR carrier to induce AIF-mediated apoptosis 1. In innate immunity, apoptotic caspases including CASP7 regulate host defenses by cleaving cGAS, MAVS, and IRF3 to prevent cytokine overproduction, with caspase-7 specifically involved in murine cells for cGAS inactivation 2. CASP7 is also implicated in pyroptosis, a proinflammatory cell death pathway, where it functions as a downstream effector of the NLRC4 inflammasome 3. Disease relevance includes associations with hypertension, where elevated CASP7 expression correlates with pyroptosis mechanisms 4, and ischemic stroke susceptibility, with genetic polymorphisms in CASP7 affecting stroke risk through transcriptional regulation 5. Therapeutically, CASP7 represents a potential target for cancer treatment, particularly in caspase-3 deficient malignancies where XIAP:CASP7 interactions can be disrupted to selectively induce apoptosis 6. CASP7 activity is commonly assessed using fluorogenic caspase-3/7 assays in cytotoxicity studies 7.